Means for cleaning and oiling the skids of skidways.



F. W. KOLB.

MEANS FOR CLEANING AND OILING THE SKJDS 0F SKIDWAYS. APPLICATION manNOV- 2. 1914.

1,137,867., v a Patented May 4, 1915.

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NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTGLITHOH WASHINGION. D c

FREDERICK W. KOLB, 0F LA-CONNER, WASHINGTON.

MEANS FOR CLEANING AND OILING THE SKIDS OF SKIDWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1915.

Original application filed June 20, 1914, Serial No. 846,411. Dividedand this application filed November 2,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnnonnron W. KoLB, a citizen of the United States,residing at La Conner, in the county of Skagit and State of Washington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Cleaningand Oiling the Skids of Skidways, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This application is a division of an application filed by me for skidcleaners and oilers, on June 20, 1914, Serial No. 8%,411, and thisinvention relates to devices for cleaning and lubricating the skids ofskidways which are used in lumber camps and upon which logs are drawn torailroad sidings or to banks of streams.

In the use of skidways of the character above stated a train of logs isdrawn along the skidway by any suitable means, these logs beingconnected to a carriage and traveling one after the other in line witheach other. It isnecessary as the logs are'drawn along the skidway thatoil or other lubricant be applied to the skids on a line with the logsso that the logs may travel easily over the skids. If bark, chips orlike extraneous matter has accumulated upon the skids, and then if oilbe applied to the skids, it will be applied upon the chips or bits ofbark and the first log of the train striking these chips will knock themoff, and as a consequence the skid will not be oiled. It is the primaryobject of my invention to provide a skid cleaning and lubricating devicewhich will act first to clear away chips or dirt from the middle of theskid log and then immediately thereafter apply oil thereto, the oilbeing applied automatically as the oiling device arrives over a skidlog, the oiling mechanism being held inoperative between the skid logsso that no oil may be wasted.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a carriage having theform of a sled with runners of such length as to bridge the spacebetween the skid logs, this carriage supporting the cleaning mechanismand the oil applying mechanism and being also provided with meanswhereby a train of logs may be drawn behind it in the usual manner.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description:

WVith this and other objects in view as Serial No. 869,905.

will become more fully apparent as the description proceeds, myinvention consists in the novel construction, combination, andarrangement of parts, to be hereinafter more fully described, claimed,and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is aside elevational view of my device; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional viewof the air pump on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail view in planshowing the air pump; Fig. 4c is a fragmentary elevational view showingthe manner of connecting one of the lift bars of the cross head foroperating the air pump to the cylinder of the pump; and Fig. 5 is avertical sectional view of a portion of the cylinder and piston of theair pump showing the location of one of the valve openings therein.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates theskids of a skidway, upon which my improved device is adapted to slide,the device including a pair of spaced parallel runners 2 upon the upperedges of which, at their forward ends, is secured a plurality of crossbars or timbers 3 which connect therunners together, and mounted uponthe bars 3 is a platform 4. Secured upon the platform 4, adjacent itsforward end, is a base 5 which is provided with an upstanding internallythread ed neck 6, the neck receiving the lower threaded end of the airpump cylinder 7 and the base having a discharge opening 8 formedcentrally therein. The cylinder 7 is provided with a removable cover 9,the cover having depending spring catches 10 connected thereto which areadapted for engagement with outwardly extending lugs 11 formed on thecylinder adjacent its upper end, whereby the cover is removably connected to'the top of the cylinder. 1he cover is provided with a centralopening 12, and a guide plate 13 is arranged across the top and is alsoprovided with an opening therein which communicates with the opening 12in the cover, and a piston rod 1a is passed through the registeringopenings, the lower end of the piston rod being threaded and having apiston 16 detachably mounted thereon. Connected to the upper end of thepiston rod which projects above the cylinder, is a cross head 17 theopposite ends of which project beyond the cylinder at diametricallyopposite points, and pivotally connected to the opposite ends of thecross ends of the levers are pivotally connected at head are verticallydisposed lift bars 18 which extend downwardly through slots 19 in theopposite ends of the guide plate 13, and are slidably disposed throughguide boxes 20 connected to the periphery of the cylinder atdiametrically opposite thereof, intermediate of its ends.

Secured to the upper face of the platform 4, forwardly of the cylinder7, are spaced bearing members 21 in which the opposite ends of asupporting rod 22 are mounted, and pivotally supported upon the oppositeends of the rod between the members 21 are the forwardly and upwardlyextending arms 23 of a pair of angular levers. These forwardly extendingarms 23 extend downward to a point below the runners so as to bedisposed in the path of the skids and the levers then extend upwardlyand rearwardly so as to provide the rear arms 24 which are, operativelyconnected to the pump, as will be later stated. lhe arms 23 of thelevers are 7 each provided adjacent their forward ends with a pluralityof openings 26 so that the levers may have the rod 22 which forms thepivotal support of said levers. passed through any one of said openingsand thereby regulate the distance to which the levers shall projectbelow the runners. The forward and rear ends of the levers projectthrough-slots in the platform, and the inner their extremities to thelower ends of connecting rods 27 ,the upper ends of the connecting rodsbeing pivotally mounted upon studs 28 which project from sleeves 29, thesleeves being mounted upon the lift bars 18 and being secured thereuponin adjusted position-by the set screws 20 which project through thesleeves into engagement with the lift bars. It will be seen that whenthe arms 23 are raised, due to their engagement with'a skid, the crosshead 17 is also raised,

thereby moving the, piston 16 upwardly within the cylinder. -To returnthe piston to its lowermost position and'to normally hold the same inthe lower end of the cylinder, any desired number of weight disks 31 maybe secured upon the pistonrod above the piston. V

The cover 9 is provided with a plurality of air openings 32 and thepiston 16 also has openings 32 formed therein, the piston haV: ingflapvalves 33 secured to its under face, the valves 33 normally closingthe openings 32 in the piston, and being forced away from the openingsas the piston is raised within the cylinder to allow air to pass throughthe piston into the space between the upper face of the base of the.cylinder and the lower 7 face of the piston. It will be seen that as thepiston 16 is lowered, thefiap valves 33 are forced against the lowerface of the piston to close the openings therein, and the air found inthe' compression space between the points base 5 and the under face ofthe cylinder is forced through the opening 8 against the upper faceofthe skid to clean the same. A raised ring 34 is formed on the upper faceof the base, the ring having a groove 35 formed therein to receive arubber or other flexible ring 36, against which the piston will strikeat the limit of its downward movement, this ring forming an air tightchamber between itself and the cylinder, thus alleviating the jar whichwould otherwise be imposed upon the base. Mounted on the platform 4,rearwardly of the air pump is an oil pump generally designated by thenumeral 37 which is operated by a lever 38, the lever, pump, and theintermediary mechanism being fully described in the application. filedby me, Serial No. 846,411.

The operation of. my device is as follows :The draft animals are drivenforwardly to move the logs over the skids in the usual manner, theplatform upon which my improved mechanism is mounted being connected tothe draft animalsforwardly of the foremost log. It will be seen'thatwhen the arm 23 engages a skid, the lever is raised, which operationraises the piston 16 in the cylinder 7' of the air pump, thereby drawingair into the chamber below the piston, andthat when the lever passesover the skid, the weights 31 force the piston; downwardly, therebydischarging air from theopening 8 against the top of the skid to blowany dirt which might be upon the skid ofi thesame.

From the above description, taken in connection 'with'the accompanyingdrawing, it will be seen that I have provided a simple mechanism forcleaning the skidways, and that this mechanism used in connection withthe oilpump 37 serves to provide a mechanism which will thoroughly.clean and oil the skids in advance of the logs, so that the logs mayeasilv slip along the skidway with minimum resistance.

' It is to be noted that the cleaning device is really part of theoiling mechanism, for the reason that there would be no object incleaning the skids of chips and dirt were it not thatoil was to beapplied thereto and were it not that if oil were applied to the chipsand dirt the following log would scrape the foreign matter from the logand leave the log unlubricated.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I desire to claim andsecure by Letters Patent is 1. A device for cleaning the skids ofskidways including a carriage, an air pump carried upon the carriage,and means for automatically actuating the air pump to apply air to eachsuccessive skid as the device is drawn along the skidway. 1 r

2. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including a carriage, andautomatically operated means carried upon the carriage to clean eachsuccessive skid as the device 18 drawn along the skidway.

8. A device for cleaning the skids of sk1dways comprising a carriage, anair pump carried upon the carriage, actuating means operativelyconnected to said pump and normally disposed below the carriage toengage each successive skid as the device is drawn over the skidway,whereby the pumpmay be actuated to force a quantity of air upon eachskid.

A. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways comprising a carriage, anair pump connected to the carriage, actuating means connected to the airpump and normally disposed below the carriage to engage each successiveskid as the device is drawn along the skidway, and means for regulatingthe volume of air applied to each skid.

5. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including a supportingframe, runners upon which the frame is supported, an air pump carriedupon the frame, and an actuating means for the pump including a leverhaving an arm extending below the runners and adapted to engagesuccessive skids.

6. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners, airpumping apparatus mounted thereon, and means disposed below the runnersin a position to be engaged by successive skids operatively engaged withthe air pump to actuate the latter.

7. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners, an airpump mounted upon the runners and including a cylinder having adischarge nozzle at its lower end, an air compressing piston movablewithin the cylinder, means operatively connected to the piston anddepending below the runners in a position to be engaged by successiveskids, said means operating to shift the piston in one direction, andmeans acting to shift the piston in the opposite direction.

8. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners adaptedto travel over the skids, an air pump mounted upon the runners andincluding a pump cylinder, a piston operating the pump cylinder having apiston rod, an angular lever pivotally supported at its upper end havinga de pending portion normally projecting below the runners and adaptedto be engaged by successive skids, links operatively connecting saidlever to the piston rod of the pump whereby to raise said piston upon anupward movement of the lever in engagement with the skid, and removableweights resting upon the piston adapted to depress the piston when thelever has been released.

9. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners, an airpump carried upon the runners, angular levers disposed in.

arm and an upwardly and rearwardly directed arm, the forward arms of thelevers being pivotally supported at their upper ends, and linksoperatively connecting the rearward arms of the levers to the air pump,

said air pump having a downwardly directed discharge nozzle.

10. A device for cleaning the skids of skidwaysincluding runners, airpumping mechanism mounted upon the runners and 1ncluding a cylinderhaving a downwardly directed discharge nozzle, actuating levers disposedforward of the pump, each of said levers having an upwardly andforwardly directed arm and a rearwardly and upwardly directed arm, thelast named arms being operatively connected to the pumping mechanism,bearing members operatively supported upon the runners and each having aplurality of bearing notches, and a pivotal shaft upon which the forwardends of the levers are mounted, said shaft being engageable in any oneof the notches in the bearing members.

11. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners, airpumping mechanism mounted upon the runners,'and a lever for actuatingthe air pumping mechanism, said lever being angular in form having anupwardly and rearwardly extending arm and an upwardly and forwardlyextending arm, the last named arm being formed with a plurality ofperforations, a pivot rod passing through any one of said perforations,and a bearing member supporting the pivot rod whereby the lever may bevertically adjusted.

12. A device for cleaning the skids of skidways including runners, airpumping. mechanism mounted upon the runners including a cylinder, apiston rod, a down wardly extending guide rod operatively connected tothe piston rod, a lever pivotally mounted at one end and normallydepending below the runners, and a link connecting the lever with saidguide rod, the connection between the guide rod and said lever includinga sleeve adjustable upon the rod.

13. A device for cleaning and oiling the skids of skidways including acarriage, means mounted at the middle of the carriage for cleaningsuccessive skids, and means mounted at the middle of the carriage behind the first named means for applying oil to successive skids, saidoil applying means being inoperative between successive skids.

14. A device for cleaning and oiling the skids of skidways including acarriage, means mounted upon the middle of the carriage for cleaningsuccessive skids, normally inoperative means for applying oil tosuccessive skids mounted at the middle of the carriage and behind thefirst named means, and means adapted to be actuated by contact Withsuccessive skids and operatively connected to the oil applying means,said last named means automatically rendering the oil applying meansintermittently operative upon the engagement of the last named meanswith a skid.

15. A device for cleaning and oiling the skids of skidWays including acarriage, an oil container mounted upon the carriage, means controllingthe emission of the oil from the container onto a skid, means mounted inadvance of the container and adapted to engage With successive skids,said means When so engaged actuating the controlling means to permit theemission of oil, and means disposed in advance of and in line Withsaidoiling means adapted to clean successive skids.

I 16. device for cleaning and oiling the skids of skidWays including acarriage having laterally disposed runners, means connected with thecarriage for hauling a train of logs behind the carriage midway of saidrunners, means mounted upon the middle of the carriage for cleaningsuccessive skids, and means mounted at the middle of the carriagebehindsaid first' named means and in 7 line with the longitudinal axes of thelogs hauled behind the carriage for applying oil FREDERICK W. KOLB.

Witnesses: v

W. S. PACKARD, A. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

